Overcoming the language barrier is one of the main hurdles Romany children
face on starting school and is one of the oft-cited reasons for putting
them in “special schools” for children with learning disabilities.
Deputies in the lower house are now engaged in a debate on whether to
introduce a special dual-language curriculum for Romany children.

The proposal for a dual-language curriculum in 1st and 2nd grade was tabled
by TOP 09 deputy Anna Putnová who said that communicating in their native
language in the classroom would help Romany children make a better start in
school and perceive it as a friendly environment.

“Children starting school are drawn into the learning process and
expected to develop but many Roma children are blocked or slowed down by
the language barrier. So what I am suggesting is a dual curriculum for them
where some classes could be taught in their native language in first and
second grade. I realize this means segregated classes, but I have to point
out that in many cases Roma children are segregated anyway. “

The proposal has evoked a mixed response in the lower house. Jiří
Zlatuška from the ANO party of the ruling coalition pointed out that while
he was not against more Romany being spoken in the classroom, such a plan
would currently be impossible to realize due to the lack of Romany
teachers. He also argued against the idea of special classes for the Roma.
This sentiment was echoed by the head of the Social Democrats’ deputies
group in the lower house Roman Sklenák. Mr. Sklenák said that while
essentially he was ready to back any plan that helped Roma children
overcome language and cultural differences in the classroom he would prefer
to see them given special care and language assistance in pre-school.

I asked the head of the Vzájemné soužití NGO Kumar Vishwanathan, who
has been actively assisting the process of Romany integration for years,
what he thinks of the idea of a dual-language curriculum for Romany
children.

“I welcome the fact that Parliament is discussing the education of Roma
children. It is high time that happened. Number two - I think it would be
good to involve as many people from the Roma community as possible in this
debate –the intellectuals, the people fighting at the grassroots for a
just and fair education for Romany children. They will really appreciate
being drawn into the discussion in Parliament. Number three –and that is
a fundamental question – if you want to help integrate Romany children
into the mainstream school system can segregation be the means to achieve
it? In other words does the end justify the means? I personally think that
it is not a very good idea. There is a very important verdict passed by the
European Court of Human Rights from 2007 – the famous case from Ostrava
when the parents of 18 Romany children filed a court case against the Czech
Republic for segregation in education and low-quality education. They won
the court case and the verdict was that in meeting the specific needs of a
child you should not segregate the child.”

Stanislav Daniel from the National Association of Romanies told Czech
Radio that the idea to introduce Romany classes has evoked mixed reactions
among Romanies themselves.

“Some Romany parents like the idea of bringing more Roma language into
the classroom. Personally I think that Roma as an optional second language
works well, but quite frankly I cannot really see how schools could
introduce regular subjects taught in Romany. I do not see how that would
work.”

Christian Democrat deputies in the lower house say Romany should remain an
optional second language where there is demand for it and that children
with a language barrier should be given special assistance to overcome this
hurdle at mainstream schools. This is a line that the Education Ministry
itself has been following. Deputy Education Minister Jindřich Fryč says
that the emphasis is on helping Romany children to enter the mainstream.

“I just want to emphasize that the present legislation already enables
schools to teach Romany as a second language where there is interest in
such classes. However our goal is actually to assist Romany school goers to
strengthen their Czech language skills. This is in line with the ruling of
the Strasbourg court of Human Rights which was mentioned and the extra help
given to children should be given in pre-school facilities and first grade
with the help of Romany assistants at mainstream schools.”

Kumar Vishwanathan also thinks that a dual-language curriculum is
unnecessary and says that all Roma children need is a bit of extra help. He
says Romany children whose parents emigrated to Great Britain have
presented ample proof of this.

“Children pick up languages very quickly, you do not have to create a
curriculum in Romany for the children to pick up the language. When Roma
children go to Britain they do not have lessons in Romany. They learn all
the subjects in English, they are quick to catch on and they perform quite
well in Britain. So I do not think that we have to bend over backwards and
create an extremely sophisticated curriculum in Romany. I don’t think we
should do that. I think it should be done in a gentle kind of way and above
all the child should feel accepted. There could be Romany-speaking
assistants in the classroom who could help the child overcome the
problematic first year or two at school. So I would place the accent on
having Romany assistants in schools from the given community. Creating a
curriculum in Romany is not the right way to approach this problem. “

While the issue of discrimination of Romany children in the Czech
education system has been at the forefront of media attention for close to
two decades and a series of governments have unveiled various measures to
address the issue there are not many tangible results to be seen and the
Czech Republic has repeatedly come under fire from the European Commission
for failing to deal with the problem. I asked Kumar what progress –if any
–had been made over that time.

“I think many important changes are happening at the grassroots level.
Recently we monitored admissions into first grade –in good schools, not
Roma segregated schools -and we were pleasantly surprised to find that in
Ostrava of some eight schools almost all were prepared to accept a Roma
child …and in fact they did accept Roma children. Only one school failed.
It tried to push out the Roma children or some of the Roma children citing
reasons like capacity etc. Out of the ten children they refused nine were
Roma children. So that is happening. On the other hand seven out of eight
schools were open to admitting a Roma child. So now we have moved forward -
schools have taken the initiative – but the question is: can they keep
the Roma child in the classroom? Because when this Roma child is in the
classroom, the Roma child will face the difficulties that MPs are speaking
about – they wouldn’t be able to sufficiently follow the teachers
explanations, might not get sufficient acceptance from teachers and
classmates etc. That is something we should concentrate on. So I think it
would really help if there were trained Roma teaching assistants in the
classroom. It would help if the Education Ministry created a budget for
this purpose because to this day – 17 years after the institution of Roma
teaching assistants was created – these teachers are not part of the
regular staff of schools. They only get funding for 12 months, so every
year in the autumn nobody knows if they are going to get another year’s
salary or not. So what would really help is to anchor their positions as
teaching assistants, so they are treated as any other teacher in the
classroom and to open up more such positions in mainstream schools. That
would really help the Roma child and fulfill the intentions of our MPs. As
for the element of Roma language, these things can be woven into this
structure once the fundamental pillar – the Roma teaching assistant - has
been secured. We can secure it by strengthening language and cultural
elements within the curriculum but it need not be as far-fetched as
teaching some or all subjects in the Romany language. And also you don’t
have to segregate Roma children in the first two years of school. Bringing
in Roma teaching assistants into schools from the first year – that would
really help the Roma child.”

In addition to the need to educate and finance more Romany assistants the
authorities face a much harder and more long-term task – that of fighting
anti-Romany prejudice among the white majority and trying to prevent it
being passed on from one generation to the next. Kumar says that while the
young generation of Romanies has found a new sense of pride in their
identity latent racism remains a problem both in and outside the classroom.

“The Roma community is coming up in this country –as a community with
a growing sense of pride and self-awareness. You see that watching children
in summer camps when they start drawing Roma symbols or flags to mark out
their identity in the play groups they form. There is increased dedication
to singing Roma songs and play theater performances in the Romany language.
So many things are happening at the grassroots level which indicates a kind
of Renaissance of the Romany identity. On the other hand there is a problem
with the white majority. This society and the children who grow up in it
have a very negative attitude towards the Roma. So I think the debate today
should be about creating an inclusive classroom where the Roma children and
the children of the white majority go to class together and have a
curriculum that may not be so overloaded with specific subjects –or
teaching in Romany, I think the time is not right for that – but would
include optional courses or clubs or whatever that would encourage and aid
the self-identity of the Roma and increase the capacity of the white
majority children to accept the Roma as an equal, as any other child,
classes that would promote tolerance and recognition of the Roma child.
That is very important. That is the kind of classroom that I think should
happen. “